Sage Francis prepares for cross-country assault

Last week, Rhode Island warrior-poet Sage Francis announced the itinerary for his national tour supporting Human the Death Dance. To liven things up, he’s assembled a proper band that includes Anticon rapper/producer Alias on synthesizers and MPC, guitarist Tom Inhaler and multi-instrumentalist Dilly Dally.

Better yet Buck 65 will be one of the tour’s opening acts. Much like Sage Francis, the Montreal rapper apprenticed with Anticon earlier in the decade. He has since evolved into a strange Tom Waits-like storyteller with a huge cult following, even though most of his work is only available in this country on import. Spoken word poet Buddy Wakefield fills out the bill.

Human the Death Dance, as previously noted, drops May 8 on Anti-/Epitaph. Sage has prepared a few appetizers: he created a short video for the track “Clickety Clak”; the YouTube clip is below. He’ll also make a few in-store appearances around the time the album is released, then wage a full-scale assault later in the month.

The tour dates:

5/08: Amoeba SF, San Francisco, CA (in-store)

5/09: Amoeba Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA (in-store)

5/10: Easy Street, Seattle, WA (in-store)

5/11: Twist and Shout, Denver, CO (in-store)

5/23: Middle East, Boston, MA

5/24: Middle East, Boston, MA

5/25: Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY

5/26: Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY

5/27: Crazy Donkey, Long Island, NY

5/29: Trocadero, Philadelphia, PA

5/30: Ottobar, Baltimore, MD

5/31: Rock And Roll Hotel, Washington, DC

6/01: Cat’s Cradle, Chapel Hill, NC

6/02: The Masquerade, Atlanta, GA

6/04: Firestone, Orlando, FL

6/06: House Of Blues, New Orleans, LA

6/07: Warehouse Live, Houston, TX

6/08: Granada, Dallas, TX

6/09: Emo’s, Austin, TX

6/11: Launchpad, Albuquerque, NM

6/12: Clubhouse, Phoenix, AZ

6/13: Club Congress, Tucson, AZ

6/15: Henry Fonda Theater, Los Angeles, CA

6/16: Glasshouse, Pomona, CA

6/17: Soma, San Diego, CA

6/19: Fillmore, San Francisco, CA

6/20: Fillmore, San Francisco, CA

6/22: Roseland, Portland, OR

6/23: Showbox, Seattle, WA

6/24: Night Light, Bellingham, WA

6/25: Pavillion, Bend, OR

6/27: The Venue, Boise, ID

6/28: In The Venue, Salt Lake City, UT

6/29: Gothic Theater, Denver, CO

6/30: Gothic Theater, Denver, CO

7/02: Sokol Hall, Omaha, NE

7/03: Picadero, Iowa City, IA

7/05: First Ave, Minneapolis, MN

7/06: Abbey Pub, Chicago, IL

7/07: Abbey Pub, Chicago, IL

7/09: Intersection, Grand Rapids, MI

7/10: Magic Stick, Detroit, MI

7/11: Mr. Smalls, Pittsburgh, PA

And here’s the video. Check out the scenes lifted from Alfred Hitchcock’sPsycho.